


Untitled-1

by JinnytheKisaragi (laquilasse)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Found Family, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other, Romance, more characters and tags to be added as i write them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-09
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 01:12:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8513026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laquilasse/pseuds/JinnytheKisaragi
Summary: A collection of little TAZ blurbs





	1. Away Mission

“Merle!” Magnus shouted as he ran, a limp figure wrapped in a cloak and pressed protectively to his chest. The goblins that had been chasing them had delved back into their caves, but the warm blood that he could feel leaking out onto his arms was enough to keep him running full speed to find his cleric. His stone of farspeech was gone from around his neck, possibly snatched by one of the goblins that had split up their group, leaving running for the mouth of the cave and yelling for help his only hope.

“‘m ok, sir,” the bundle slurred, sounding the exact opposite of ‘ok’. Magnus shushed him gently, not wanting him to think he was being reprimanded instead of comforted, and deftly avoided jagged terrain that would certainly jar Angus’ hurts further.

A simple scouting mission, that’s all it was supposed to be. So much time on the moonbase with no break in the monotony of training had been making all three Reclaimers antsy, and though the Director wanted them to be in pique condition to retrieve the next relic, even she could not deny that a brief change in scenery might be beneficial. Of course, a certain boy detective found out all about her plans for their small excursion. Angus had begged and pleaded for her to let him train with his mentor in the field, making quite the compelling argument about how beneficial field work is for young trainees. Eventually, she yielded to him as well, if only because it certainly wasn’t any better for a child to stay cooped up in a secluded base than three adults.

She would never have even thought of allowing him to go if she’d known about all the goblins that had been hiding away in the forest and cave network she assigned them to investigate.

Magnus continued sprinting full speed whilst still cradling his precious cargo as gently as possible. Little Angus’ breathing was ragged and pained, no matter how hard he tried to hide it, and Magnus felt something fierce grip his heart; a deeply buried paternal instinct, one he had locked away with every other painful  _ could have been  _ and seemed to bubble up the more time he spent around Angus. The man ducked his head into the curly head of red hair, giving a whispered reassurance, before shouting upwards once more,  _ “Merle! Taako!” _

“Mags?” A slightly breathless voice rang out through the cave, and Magnus could have cried in relief as he ran towards it. Sure enough, Taako’s familiar ensemble of his pointed hat and umbra staff came into view from the mouth of a tunnel that branched away from the main part of the cave followed by the shorter figure of Merle, who was just catching up to Taako. They looked a little scuffed up, and Taako’s skirt was going to need a fair bit of mending, but they were alive and breathing, and Magnus had to be thankful for that. The man could see relief flash in his teammates’ eyes as well before they caught sight of Angus, when it was replaced with realization and then a brief moment of panic as they rushed to meet him.

Magnus knelt down to allow Merle access to his charge, and the dwarf hissed sympathetically at the sight of the various cuts and bruises the boy had sustained, the worst of which being a nasty gash in his left shoulder that was gushing quite a bit of blood. His skin was pasty white, and he shook slightly in his friend’s arms. The frantic pounding of Magnus’ heart had nothing to do with the fact that he had just sprinted the entire way back to the mouth of the cave. 

“Fuck-- shit, alright,” Merle muttered, turning Angus’ face towards him and tapping lightly. The boy’s face scrunched up as his eyelids fluttered, eyes slightly unfocused until they fell on Taako and Merle.

“H-hello sirs…” he managed weakly for the elf and dwarf, still nestled against Magnus’ broad chest. 

“Hey there, pumpkin,” Taako said, his tone reminiscent of when he and Magnus had helped Brogden out of the collapsing bank, “Let’s get you healed up before Lucretia has our asses, yeah?” It earned Taako a small, breathy laugh from the child, and Magnus felt his shoulders relax just marginally. Merle cast a group healing spell over all four of them, and Taako leaned against Magnus’ shoulder to look down at Angus without getting in the cleric’s way. Magnus did not relinquish his hold on their youngest teammate until he was sure that the wounds had sewn themselves back together and Angus’ freckled skin regained its usual pink undertones. Little by little, he could feel the young boy’s breathing and heartbeat pick up, and Angus managed a smile for the three adults that watched him nervously.

“I'm ok!” He chirped, probably trying to sound reassuring but ending up more in the range of disbelief and relief part of the spectrum. 

Merle was clearly trying to hide his own emotions on the situation, gruffly patting Angus’ arm before putting away his bible and letting out a short huff.  Taako reached down and took his protege's hands to help him out of Magnus’ lap and to his feet, and the four of them headed for the mouth of the cave. The elf did not let go of Angus’ hand throughout their entire walk back through the forest and to their camp.  Angus did not seem to mind this in the slightest, seemingly unshaken by the whole ordeal as he recounted to his teacher all the spells he had successfully cast that day; a real testament to the resilience of children. Merle, for his part, stayed a little bit closer to Angus than he normally would (though he'd vehemently deny it if questioned), and Magnus kept a hand on Railsplitter as he walked just slightly behind his teammates, keeping them all in eyeshot.


	2. For Fear of Loving Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus takes a trip down memory lane, but it's not quite how he remembers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a brother fic for @goodnicepeople because we yell about them constantly and cry

The window wouldn't shatter. 

_ No.  _

The window wouldn't shatter no matter how many times he hit it, what the fuck was this thing made of? Magnus breathed raggedly, heart rate picking up with panic. He threw himself bodily against it, pounding with his fists, the handle of his axe, trying anything he could think of to just break through this godsdamned window and get to—

A shriek rang from below, making his blood run icy cold.

_ No no no. _

Magnus’ gaze shot out the window to the chamber below him where Taako had scrambled backwards on the ground, away from the advancing ogres (and his broken wand). Magnus’ heart jumped into his throat while his stomach sank to his feet, and he felt sick with anxiety.  _ They’re going to kill him _ , he thought before frantically hacking at the window once more, vigour renewed by his panic. They were going to… they  _ couldn’t _ , this was  _ crazy. _ It was an entrance test. He wasn’t going to lose Taako over a fucking entrance test to some shitty organization. A choked growl escaped him when the glass didn’t even show signs of scratching. He hit the window harder, faster, cries of desperation bubbling up from his stomach with each one. He couldn't lose someone else he loved. He wouldn’t survive it, couldn’t survive it; losing Taako. Please, please not Taako, please not his brother, any and all gods,  _ please save him for me. _

Another wordless cry from the room below, and he watched in abject horror as the red ogre, the largest ogre, picked Taako up by his throat. The elf kicked and struggled and clawed at its hand.

_ Please! _

Taako choked and gasped in pain before the ogre slammed him onto the ground, effectively pinning him by the throat. Magnus could hear him gurgling and choking as desperate noises escaped him, and he tightened his grip on his weapon and hit with every last ounce of strength he possessed. He had to get through, he had to he had to he had to he  _ had to, _ the alternative simply wasn’t an option.

Taako’s eyes looked up and met Magnus’ in one last plea for help, face tinted blue.

_ Please please please please please no no _

The ogre brought its axe down hard onto Taako’s stomach, who let loose a blood curdling wail of pain.

“ _ No! _ ”

Magnus shot upwards with a shout, panting hard, heart stuttering with frantic palpitations. It took him a moment to get his bearings, but slowly, the world around him began to come into focus, and he began to recognize his bedroom. He wasn’t there, he reminded himself as he rubbed his chest, and neither was Taako. He was here. They both were. Taako was fine. Taako was in his room, probably, Magnus was in his own, and they were both on the moon and they were fine. He had just woken up from a night terror that had him clutching his shirt and sweating buckets, heart breaking and throbbing painfully in his chest, and Taako was  _ fine. _

Magnus put his head into shaking hands, huffing and failing once again to catch his breath. Taako was not getting disemboweled by ogres,  _ get a grip, Burnsides. _

In a moment of blind instinct, his legs swung with haste over the side of his bed and made their way down the carpeted hardwood floor of his bedroom, over the threshold, down the hall, and into the next room where they stopped abruptly. Magnus’ mind was still in somewhat of a shaky daze, which was soon slapped into sobriety when he caught sight of the lithe figure sleeping in the bed before him.

There was Taako, all long, messy, blonde hair and Magnus’ Camp Good Friend T-shirt (so that’s where it went), snoring like a chainsaw, and wholly, blessedly, alive. Gods, Taako didn’t need to sleep, what was he even doing? He wasn’t even, like, good at it. At all. His hair was in his mouth, and his lanky limbs hung off the bed where they weren’t tangled in the sheets, which were essentially tied into knots. He was kind of the actual worst sleeper? Possibly ever? The elf in question kicked his leg suddenly before settling down again, resuming his snoring, and Magnus felt himself smile fondly at the sight.

It wasn’t until he took a hiccuping breath that he realized he was crying. The wetness trickled down his cheeks in big fat teardrops, leaving his skin and facial hair soaked; A sniffle, a shaky exhale, an attempt at breathing past the lump in his throat. Ten seconds after being assured that Taako was safe and sound, Magnus Burnsides was dropping to a crouch, weeping in earnest into his hands, whole body shaking with the force of his sobs.

Taako terrified him. On a daily basis. He didn’t rush headlong into danger (he actually had a pretty good sense of self preservation: “Taako’s Good Out Here”, which Magnus was so so thankful for), but Magnus still felt his stomach drop in fear every time an enemy got a hit on the wizard. It was too easy. With half the hitpoints his human companion possessed and no actual armour to speak of, Taako was far too vulnerable. It was entirely possible that, one of these days, he just wouldn’t stand back up, and it was one of Magnus’ biggest fears. He did what he could: Putting himself between his family and whatever danger lay ahead of them, taking any and (if possible) all hits meant for Taako or Merle, rushing into danger to draw the focus of an enemy. They chastised him, told him they could fend for themselves, and if they got hurt that’s why they had a cleric, dumbass. 

On one particular instance, he had used himself as a human shield to block an arrow headed straight for Taako’s forehead and received one in his ribcage. It had nearly punctured his lung. Once Merle got the arrow out and patched him up, Taako had slugged him hard on the shoulder and yelled at him. Magnus didn’t care. He could take physical hurts. He’d take a thousand arrows before he let Taako take one.

Snuffling and gurgling from the bed broke Magnus out of his reverie. He shot back up, swiping tears from his face and hoping to god he didn’t wake Taako up with his blubbering. He’d never hear the end of it. Fortunately, Taako was once again proving how horrible he was at sleeping, somehow knocking his pillow out from under his head and onto the floor with little to no movement. 

Magnus sniffed and gave a quiet chuckle as he padded his way over to the bed, careful to make as little noise as possible (quite the feat, as Taako had told him many times that he walked about as loudly as 20 elephants fucking with wooden shoes on), and picked up the fallen cushion. Now for the hard part: One gigantic bear paw of a hand carefully found its way under Taako’s head, cradling it so that the pillow could be placed back where it belonged. Magnus finally set the head of messy blonde hair gently back down and retracted his hand, but not before brushing away a few golden tangled strands that had found their way into the elf’s open mouth, letting the backs of his fingers settle on the elf’s cheek for a few self indulgent moments. Taako, for his part, snored even louder than before, seemingly not even noticing Magnus’ careful ministrations.

The human quietly shut Taako’s door, laughing a bit to himself when he could still hear the snoring through the wall, and headed back to his own room. Sure, he would always live in constant fear of losing someone else who had taken up residence in his heart, but in this moment, he couldn’t bring himself to regret loving again.

**Author's Note:**

> come watch me yell/yell with me about TAZ!@ @toniarina


End file.
